Cushetunk Mountain
Encyclopedia
Cushetunk Mountain is a ring shaped mountain
in the U.S. state
of New Jersey
, located in Readington
and Clinton Township
. The Lenape
called the mountain "Cushetunk" meaning "place of hogs" after the wild hogs found there. In the 1960s, the valley at the heart of the mountain was dammed and filled with water to create Round Valley Reservoir
. Today, the mountain and its accompanying lake act as a vital water supply to Central New Jersey, while at the same time providing numerous recreational opportunities to the region.
and Readington, New Jersey is a horseshoe shaped mountain with the tips of its two prongs ending in the west at the edge of the New Jersey Highlands. The mountain’s U-shaped arc is approximately two miles in diameter, with the more massive portion of the mountain occupying the southwest corner of the ridgeline. A deep man-made lake, Round Valley Reservoir
, occupies the valley at the center of the horseshoe.
Cushetunk Mountain is occasionally referred to as a mountain range and includes Round Mountain, a 610 foot peak located about a mile and a half south of Cushetunk Mountain in Readington. Round Mountain is linked to Cushetunk Mountain by a sheet of intruded diabase
rock running beneath the surface.
, particularly the Musconetcongs who ranged between Cushetunk Mountain and Sourland Mountain
to the south. An interesting claim put forward by Beauchamp Plantagenet, one of the first Europeans to explore the area around the mountain, states that a Native American king held his seat in a place resembling the valley formed by Cushetunk Mountain. The claim exists today as a legend, and no evidence has ever been found confirming Plantagenet’s story of a ‘Raritan king’.
Two famous names from New Jersey’s colonial history owned land on the north slope of Cushetunk Mountain in Potterstown (part of Readington and Clinton Township). One was John Stevens
, a delegate to the Continental Congress
, whose grandson founded Stevens Institute of Technology
. The other was Lord Stirling, an American Revolutionary War
General who was ranked 3rd or 4th behind George Washington
.
Historically, wildlife at the mountain included apex predators that are no longer found in the region. A story from the colonial era involving Dr. John Rockhill, a member of the Society of Friends and supposedly Hunterdon’s County’s first physician, indicates that Cushetunk Mountain and neighboring Round Mountain were known to harbor wolves. It is also noted that settlers in nearby Flemington had to defend against these wolves during the winter.
Prior to the 1960s, when the valley surrounded by Cushetunk Mountain was dammed to form Round Valley Reservoir
, the mountain was useful as a timber source. Farming use was limited due to the hard diabase rock in the mountain’s soil.
, Cushetunk Mountain formed approximately 200 million years ago around the Triassic
/Jurassic
boundary as an intrusion of igneous rock, diabase
, into local shale and sandstone. The intrusion occurred when the Newark Basin
, an aborted rift zone
that formed as Pangaea
began to break up, was still volcanically active. Originally, it was thought that Cushetunk Mountain was formed well after the nearby Watchung Mountains
, also of volcanic origin. The theory was that the deposition of sediment into the Newark Basin was still occurring after the Watchungs were extruded, which explained how Cushetunk Mountain was able to intrude into strata above the height of the Watchungs. However, it is now known that Cushetunk Mountain, as well as other intrusive bodies in the Newark Basin, are at least 10 million years older than the Watchungs, which implies that erosion and/or uplift must have occurred after Cushetunk Mountain was intruded in order to allow the Watchungs to form at the surface. Both Cushetunk Mountain and the Watchungs were elevated after millions of years of erosion stripped away the overlying sandstone and shale strata and exposed their durable trap rock
masses to the surface.
Contrary to popular belief, the ring-like shape of the mountain does not represent a crater, particularly since the mountain was formed primarily within the Earth. Instead, the mountain’s shape seems to be the result of an intruding sheet of magma becoming dramatically flexed as it penetrated local strata. Round Mountain, just to the south of Cushetunk Mountain, formed as the intruding sheet that created Cushetunk Mountain reached a syncline
.
A unique feature of Cushetunk Mountain’s geology is that the igneous intrusion forming the mountain partly overlaps Paleozioc limestone west of the Ramapo fault. Occurring just south of Molasses Hill Rd in Clinton Township, the overlap is significant for two reasons. First, the overlap marks one of the only locations in the Newark Basin
where an intrusion successfully crossed the Ramapo fault and effectively spilled over the western edge of the basin. Second, the trap rock comprising the intrusion at this location is fine grained and unlike the dense, coarse diabase common to Cushetunk Mountain. It is thought that this is because the intrusion erupted to the surface as it overran the Paleozoic limestone.
Because the north slope of the mountain is cooler and shaded, moisture is more easily retained. This results in larger trees, as well as the growth of trees not seen on southern facing slopes. These trees include black birch
, tulip tree
, white ash
, basswood, hickory
, beech
, and sugar maple
. Shrubs are abundant in the understory of the northern slopes, as well as herbs typical of more northern forests, including wild ginger, wild sarsaparilla, black snakeroot, and columbine.
On the warmer, dryer southern slopes chestnut oak
and red oak prevail, although the trees are also common to the northern slopes. In the understory, dogwood
is dominant, and the diversity and number of shrubs is reduced. Grasses and sedges are the most prevalent ground cover.
Wildlife supported by Cushetunk Mountain includes a variety of woodland birds, including a nesting pair of bald eagles. Groundwater seeps, particularly on the northern slopes, provide habitat to amphibians, while outcrops of trap rock offer ideal environments for small reptiles.
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, located in Readington
Readington Township, New Jersey
Readington Township is a Township located in the easternmost portion of Hunterdon County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 16,126...
and Clinton Township
Clinton Township, New Jersey
Clinton Township is a Township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the township population was 13,478....
. The Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
called the mountain "Cushetunk" meaning "place of hogs" after the wild hogs found there. In the 1960s, the valley at the heart of the mountain was dammed and filled with water to create Round Valley Reservoir
Round Valley Reservoir
The Round Valley Reservoir in Clinton Township of the U.S. state of New Jersey was formed in 1960 when the New Jersey Water Authority constructed two large dams and flooded a large valley in the state's Hunterdon County. The reservoir is named after the naturally formed circular valley surrounded...
. Today, the mountain and its accompanying lake act as a vital water supply to Central New Jersey, while at the same time providing numerous recreational opportunities to the region.
Geography
Cushetunk Mountain, located in Clinton Township, New JerseyClinton Township, New Jersey
Clinton Township is a Township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the township population was 13,478....
and Readington, New Jersey is a horseshoe shaped mountain with the tips of its two prongs ending in the west at the edge of the New Jersey Highlands. The mountain’s U-shaped arc is approximately two miles in diameter, with the more massive portion of the mountain occupying the southwest corner of the ridgeline. A deep man-made lake, Round Valley Reservoir
Round Valley Reservoir
The Round Valley Reservoir in Clinton Township of the U.S. state of New Jersey was formed in 1960 when the New Jersey Water Authority constructed two large dams and flooded a large valley in the state's Hunterdon County. The reservoir is named after the naturally formed circular valley surrounded...
, occupies the valley at the center of the horseshoe.
Cushetunk Mountain is occasionally referred to as a mountain range and includes Round Mountain, a 610 foot peak located about a mile and a half south of Cushetunk Mountain in Readington. Round Mountain is linked to Cushetunk Mountain by a sheet of intruded diabase
Diabase
Diabase or dolerite is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. In North American usage, the term diabase refers to the fresh rock, whilst elsewhere the term dolerite is used for the fresh rock and diabase refers to altered material...
rock running beneath the surface.
History
Before the arrival of Europeans, Cushetunk Mountain was inhabited by Unami speaking LenapeLenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
, particularly the Musconetcongs who ranged between Cushetunk Mountain and Sourland Mountain
Sourland Mountain
Sourland Mountain is a long ridge in central New Jersey, extending from the Delaware River at Lambertville to the western end of Hillsborough Township near the community of Neshanic , through Montgomery Township and into Hopewell Township in Mercer County. It comprises the largest contiguous...
to the south. An interesting claim put forward by Beauchamp Plantagenet, one of the first Europeans to explore the area around the mountain, states that a Native American king held his seat in a place resembling the valley formed by Cushetunk Mountain. The claim exists today as a legend, and no evidence has ever been found confirming Plantagenet’s story of a ‘Raritan king’.
Two famous names from New Jersey’s colonial history owned land on the north slope of Cushetunk Mountain in Potterstown (part of Readington and Clinton Township). One was John Stevens
John Stevens (New Jersey)
John Stevens was a prominent politician from New Jersey who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1783....
, a delegate to the Continental Congress
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....
, whose grandson founded Stevens Institute of Technology
Stevens Institute of Technology
Stevens Institute of Technology is a technological university located on a campus in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA – founded in 1870 with an 1868 bequest from Edwin A. Stevens. It is known for its engineering, science, and technological management curricula.The institute has produced leading...
. The other was Lord Stirling, an American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
General who was ranked 3rd or 4th behind George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
.
Historically, wildlife at the mountain included apex predators that are no longer found in the region. A story from the colonial era involving Dr. John Rockhill, a member of the Society of Friends and supposedly Hunterdon’s County’s first physician, indicates that Cushetunk Mountain and neighboring Round Mountain were known to harbor wolves. It is also noted that settlers in nearby Flemington had to defend against these wolves during the winter.
Prior to the 1960s, when the valley surrounded by Cushetunk Mountain was dammed to form Round Valley Reservoir
Round Valley Reservoir
The Round Valley Reservoir in Clinton Township of the U.S. state of New Jersey was formed in 1960 when the New Jersey Water Authority constructed two large dams and flooded a large valley in the state's Hunterdon County. The reservoir is named after the naturally formed circular valley surrounded...
, the mountain was useful as a timber source. Farming use was limited due to the hard diabase rock in the mountain’s soil.
Geology
Like the nearby Palisades and Sourland MountainSourland Mountain
Sourland Mountain is a long ridge in central New Jersey, extending from the Delaware River at Lambertville to the western end of Hillsborough Township near the community of Neshanic , through Montgomery Township and into Hopewell Township in Mercer County. It comprises the largest contiguous...
, Cushetunk Mountain formed approximately 200 million years ago around the Triassic
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
/Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
boundary as an intrusion of igneous rock, diabase
Diabase
Diabase or dolerite is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. In North American usage, the term diabase refers to the fresh rock, whilst elsewhere the term dolerite is used for the fresh rock and diabase refers to altered material...
, into local shale and sandstone. The intrusion occurred when the Newark Basin
Newark Basin
The Newark Basin is a sediment-filled rift basin located mainly in northern New Jersey but also stretching into south-eastern Pennsylvania and southern New York. It is part of the system of Eastern North America Rift Basins.-Geology:...
, an aborted rift zone
Rift zone
A rift zone is a feature of some volcanoes, especially the shield volcanoes of Hawaii, in which a linear series of fissures in the volcanic edifice allows lava to be erupted from the volcano's flank instead of from its summit...
that formed as Pangaea
Pangaea
Pangaea, Pangæa, or Pangea is hypothesized as a supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration....
began to break up, was still volcanically active. Originally, it was thought that Cushetunk Mountain was formed well after the nearby Watchung Mountains
Watchung Mountains
The Watchung Mountains are a group of three long low ridges of volcanic origin, between 400 ft. and 500 ft. high, lying parallel to each other in northern New Jersey in the United States...
, also of volcanic origin. The theory was that the deposition of sediment into the Newark Basin was still occurring after the Watchungs were extruded, which explained how Cushetunk Mountain was able to intrude into strata above the height of the Watchungs. However, it is now known that Cushetunk Mountain, as well as other intrusive bodies in the Newark Basin, are at least 10 million years older than the Watchungs, which implies that erosion and/or uplift must have occurred after Cushetunk Mountain was intruded in order to allow the Watchungs to form at the surface. Both Cushetunk Mountain and the Watchungs were elevated after millions of years of erosion stripped away the overlying sandstone and shale strata and exposed their durable trap rock
Trap rock
Trap rock is a form of igneous rock that tends to form polygonal vertical fractures, most typically hexagonal, but also four to eight sided. The fracture pattern forms when magma of suitable chemical composition intrudes as a sill or extrudes as a thick lava flow, and slowly cools.Because of the...
masses to the surface.
Contrary to popular belief, the ring-like shape of the mountain does not represent a crater, particularly since the mountain was formed primarily within the Earth. Instead, the mountain’s shape seems to be the result of an intruding sheet of magma becoming dramatically flexed as it penetrated local strata. Round Mountain, just to the south of Cushetunk Mountain, formed as the intruding sheet that created Cushetunk Mountain reached a syncline
Syncline
In structural geology, a syncline is a fold, with younger layers closer to the center of the structure. A synclinorium is a large syncline with superimposed smaller folds. Synclines are typically a downward fold, termed a synformal syncline In structural geology, a syncline is a fold, with younger...
.
A unique feature of Cushetunk Mountain’s geology is that the igneous intrusion forming the mountain partly overlaps Paleozioc limestone west of the Ramapo fault. Occurring just south of Molasses Hill Rd in Clinton Township, the overlap is significant for two reasons. First, the overlap marks one of the only locations in the Newark Basin
Newark Basin
The Newark Basin is a sediment-filled rift basin located mainly in northern New Jersey but also stretching into south-eastern Pennsylvania and southern New York. It is part of the system of Eastern North America Rift Basins.-Geology:...
where an intrusion successfully crossed the Ramapo fault and effectively spilled over the western edge of the basin. Second, the trap rock comprising the intrusion at this location is fine grained and unlike the dense, coarse diabase common to Cushetunk Mountain. It is thought that this is because the intrusion erupted to the surface as it overran the Paleozoic limestone.
Ecology
While most of the mountain ridges in New Jersey run generally north to south, Cushetunk Mountain primarily has an east-west ridge orientation because of the elongated north and south prongs of its horseshoe-like ridge. This produces significantly different microclimates between the north facing and south facing slopes of the mountain. On south facing slopes, the air temperature near the ground is consistently higher than on the north facing slopes, which do not receive as much sunlight. In terms of ecology this creates a noticeable impact on Cushetunk Mountain’s vegetation.Because the north slope of the mountain is cooler and shaded, moisture is more easily retained. This results in larger trees, as well as the growth of trees not seen on southern facing slopes. These trees include black birch
Black Birch
Black Birch may refer to:* Betula lenta* Betula nigra* Black Birch Ridge outside of Blenheim on the South Island of New Zealand* the Black Birch Astrometric Observatory at Black Birch Ridge...
, tulip tree
Liriodendron tulipifera
Liriodendron tulipifera, commonly known as the tulip tree, American tulip tree, tuliptree, tulip poplar or yellow poplar, is the Western Hemisphere representative of the two-species genus Liriodendron, and the tallest eastern hardwood...
, white ash
White Ash
For another species referred to as white ash, see Eucalyptus fraxinoides.Fraxinus americana is a species of Fraxinus native to eastern North America found in mesophytic hardwood forests from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota, south to northern Florida, and southwest to eastern...
, basswood, hickory
Hickory
Trees in the genus Carya are commonly known as hickory, derived from the Powhatan language of Virginia. The genus includes 17–19 species of deciduous trees with pinnately compound leaves and big nuts...
, beech
Beech
Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
, and sugar maple
Sugar Maple
Acer saccharum is a species of maple native to the hardwood forests of northeastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario, and south to Georgia and Texas...
. Shrubs are abundant in the understory of the northern slopes, as well as herbs typical of more northern forests, including wild ginger, wild sarsaparilla, black snakeroot, and columbine.
On the warmer, dryer southern slopes chestnut oak
Chestnut oak
Quercus prinus , the chestnut oak, is a species of oak in the white oak group, Quercus sect. Quercus. It is native to the eastern United States, where it is one of the most important ridgetop trees from southern Maine southwest to central Mississippi, with an outlying northwestern population in...
and red oak prevail, although the trees are also common to the northern slopes. In the understory, dogwood
Dogwood
The genus Cornus is a group of about 30-60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods. Most dogwoods are deciduous trees or shrubs, but a few species are nearly herbaceous perennial subshrubs, and a few of the woody species are evergreen...
is dominant, and the diversity and number of shrubs is reduced. Grasses and sedges are the most prevalent ground cover.
Wildlife supported by Cushetunk Mountain includes a variety of woodland birds, including a nesting pair of bald eagles. Groundwater seeps, particularly on the northern slopes, provide habitat to amphibians, while outcrops of trap rock offer ideal environments for small reptiles.
Recreation
- Round Valley Recreation Area
- Cushetunk Mountain Preserve
- Deer Path Park, located on and adjacent to Round Mountain and including the Peter Buell Trail.